Humpback Whale Song in Blackfish Sound

Sometimes there's good news.

Orcalab posted a 30-minute recording of a humpback whale singing in Blackfish Sound, recorded on the Flower Island hydrophone (see map) at a time when there was no boat noise whatever coming into the hydrophone network. There's a nice essay about how the humpbacks were all killed (every one) in the area in 1967, began returning 15 years later, and now are apparently once again 'at home' enough to sing.

It works best to download the entire file and then play it. While you're waiting you might want to read up on humpback song, and look at the photos, so you can visualize them hanging still in the water, head down, as they sing. There's a good humpback migration map at National Geographic. You can see why, until the individuals are identified on the breeding grounds, we can't be sure whether these particular humpies go to Hawaii or to Mexico.